Longnose

LONGNOSE SHINER

SCIENTIFIC NAME:Notropis longirostris

CHARACTERISTICS: The longnose shiner is a pale species with a slender, somewhat compressed body that is flattened on the venter. The snout is long and rounded, with a subterminal mouth. Eyes are located toward the top of the head. The scales and lateral lines are delicately outlined with pigment. Live individuals have straw yellow backs, silvery sides, and distinctly yellow fins. Breeding males have yellow-orange fins.

ADULT SIZE: 1.4 to 2.4 in (35 to 60 mm)

DISTRIBUTION:Notropis longirostris ranges from the lower Mississippi basin east to the Apalachicola basin and north to the Altamaha River drainage in Georgia. Isolated populations occur in the upper Coosa River system, presumably gaining access through headwater stream capture. The longnose shiner is absent from most of the Mobile basin, being replaced there by the similar orangefin shiner, N. ammophilus. The longnose shiner is commonly found in the coastal drainages of south Alabama from the Escatawpa basin east to the Chattahoochee River drainage.

HABITAT AND BIOLOGY: This sand-loving species is most often found over shifting sand substrates of shallow shoals and quiet waters below riffle runs in coastal streams. Breeding individuals have been captured in May and June over sand and gravel shoals in coastal streams, and Hubbs and Walker (1942) report bottom spawning on sand and gravel bars with rapid current. Heins and Clemmer (1976) indicate a protracted spawning season from March through October, which is similar to that of N. ammophilus. Spawning occurs at the margins of pools that have some current and that are upstream of shoal areas. These shiners live for one to one and a half years, and their diet consists of dipteran immatures and lesser amounts of beetles, mayflies, dragonflies, terrestrial insects, and plant material (Heins and Clemmer, 1975).

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: The longnose shiner was described by Hay in 1881.

ETYMOLOGY:Notropis means keeled back.Longirostris means long nose.

The copyrighted information above is from Fishes of Alabama and the Mobile Basin.